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Fearful Samoa forced to tackle issue of staying within the rules

Owen Slot, Chief Sports Reporter, in Paris

September 21 2007, 1:00am, The Times

Samoa without their trademark tackling is like Samson after a haircut and if Michael Jones, the Samoa coach and a giant of the game, is to be believed, England may benefit in their vital pool match tomorrow from the opposition feeling that they are going bald.

But that, of course, is if Jones is to be believed. It is not his way to play mind games, but he does face a dilemma. He knows what his players’ most fearsome weapon is: their ability to set loose fear in the enemy through their sheer physicality. And he is wondering if it time to put that weapon down.

That did not prevent Jones from naming in his starting XV a fit-again Brian Lima, dubbed “The Chiropractor” for…